Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/142666 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
EERI Research Paper Series No. 02/2014
Publisher: 
Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels
Abstract: 
Studies in the social capital literature have documented two stylised facts: first, a decline in measures of social participation has occurred in many OECD countries. Second, and more recently, the success of social networking sites (SNSs) has resulted in a steep rise in online social participation. Our study adds to this body of research by conducting the first empirical assessment of how online networking affects two economically relevant aspects of social capital, i.e. trust and sociability. We find that participation in SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter has a positive effect on face-to-face interactions. However, social trust decreases with online interactions. Several interpretations of these findings are discussed.
Subjects: 
Social participation
online networks
Facebook
Internet-mediated communication
social capital
broadband
digital divide
JEL: 
C36
D85
O33
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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